Disguise Mask (Passerby)

Second update. The book is currently fourth on the New Book Rankings, and the gap between us and the top two isn't large. So I'll shamelessly ask for your support again and hope to push this book higher!

There'll be another bonus update today!!!

After getting the Disguise Mask, Gao Xu still wore a calm expression, but inside, he was over the moon.

They say that when you're sleepy, someone brings you a pillow; whatever you want, you get. He'd just browsed around, and sure enough, he'd stumbled across a Disguise Mask for sale. If those Reincarnators in the second or third difficulty tiers found out about it, they'd probably jump up and curse the stall owner for being a clueless spendthrift!

Actually, it wasn't surprising. Reincarnators in the first difficulty tier were limited by their perspective and experience. Most of them only looked at the surface attributes of equipment and items. They didn't try to uncover their hidden value—or, more accurately, they had no idea how...

Gao Xu kept browsing, but as expected, he didn't find any other items suited to his current situation. Satisfied, he stepped onto the teleportation point and entered the functional area.

As the name suggested, the functional area provided rooms with all sorts of uses: training, recovery, auctions, crafting, enchanting, gambling, recreation, trials, wishes, and many more, all strange and varied. If you could think of it, it could be done.

Of course, different functional rooms corresponded to different difficulty levels. For Reincarnators who had just entered the space, only a dozen or so rooms were accessible.

Training Room: Contains training grounds of various levels: high-pressure environments, full-system simulations, extreme combat, and so on. Set the function you want, then pay according to how long you stay.

Recovery Room: Contains the Life Spring. No matter how severe the injury, soaking in it will restore you. It can even regenerate severed limbs.

Auction Room: You can send items to the auction house and set a price. You can also bid on the rare items listed by other Reincarnators. The highest bidder wins.

Other functions, such as crafting, enchanting, and socketing, all applied to equipment and items. Their uses were exactly what their names implied, so there was no need to elaborate.

Gao Xu was headed for the Crafting Room. By collecting raw materials such as wood, ore, metal, and beast bones, and obtaining an equipment blueprint, he could craft equipment in the Crafting Room. The resulting equipment would automatically gain attributes based on the quality of the materials.

In the first difficulty tier, the Crafting Room was a place nobody visited. Collecting those materials was no easy task, and crafted equipment wasn't necessarily better than dropped gear. Reincarnators wouldn't bother with something where the effort and reward were so out of balance.

The Crafting Room was completely empty, with hardly any tools. There was only a square platform in the center. Gao Xu walked up to it, but didn't immediately put the Disguise Mask down. Instead, he focused his mind on his Emblem and began searching the shopping list.

As a side note, Reincarnators inside the space could buy items sold by the space directly through their Emblems. They didn't need to go to a designated location to make a purchase, which was extremely convenient.

Before long, Gao Xu's left hand flashed, and a delicate little bottle appeared in his palm. He gazed at the colorless liquid inside and took a deep breath. Then he laid the Disguise Mask on the platform and carefully poured the liquid over it.

"Materials: Disguise Mask (Scholar), Transformation Potion."

"Crafting blueprint: None."

"Unable to craft."

The information from his Emblem made Gao Xu not only unperturbed, but delighted. He pressed his palm against the platform and made a query: "Query: Are there any other ways to use these two items?"

"Querying..."

"Hidden function: Processing, activated."

"Reincarnator's space access level: 2. Requirements met."

"Processing Disguise Mask (Scholar) together with Transformation Potion: 70% chance of producing a similar item, 25% chance of no change, 5% chance of item damage. Processing fee: 100 points. Process? Yes/No."

It turned out that in the first difficulty tier, crafting and processing were combined. But unless you made a query, the system wouldn't tell you. What's more, level 2 access was the minimum requirement for using the processing function. Gao Xu really did have pretty good luck.

The Transformation Potion he'd bought was one of the essential items for using disguise skills, and cost only 50 points. It was a support item, and nobody would have guessed that under certain circumstances, it was the perfect medium!

Now, it was time to witness a miracle!

A soft glow rose from the platform, and the liquid floating on the mask's surface slowly seeped into it, changing its shape and contours. Just as Gao Xu let out a sigh of relief, a flash of blue light passed over it.

Disguise Mask (Scholar): Blue item, inferior quality, a distinctive item from the world of the Jian Xia Qing Yuan series. A mask used for disguise. When used, it changes your appearance and clothing to those of a scholar traveling to the capital to take the imperial examination, increasing initial favor with government-affiliated characters by 15 points. Maximum duration: 60 minutes. After removing the mask, you must wait at least 2 hours before using it again. Uses remaining: 2020.

"This thing must be worth a thousand points now, at least..." Gao Xu stroked the brand-new mask, immensely pleased with himself. He'd spent only 150 points to breathe new life into an item that had been practically worthless. It was a real sense of accomplishment.

However, the Disguise Mask (Scholar) wasn't suitable for him, so Gao Xu bought another bottle of Transformation Potion and chose to process it again.

Disguise Mask (Bandit): Blue item, inferior quality, a distinctive item from the world of the Jian Xia Qing Yuan series. A mask used for disguise. When used, it changes your appearance and clothing to those of a bandit who robs and plunders, increasing the success rate of robbery- and plunder-type skills by 10%. Maximum duration: 60 minutes. After removing the mask, you must wait at least 2 hours before using it again. Uses remaining: 2020.

"A scholar turned into a bandit. That's quite the change!" Gao Xu laughed. The bandit mask was worth even more than the scholar mask. With the right buyer, it could fetch as much as 3,000 points.

Gao Xu thought it over for a moment, then put it back on the platform. Robbery- and plunder-type skills weren't common in the first difficulty tier. Selling it for a fair price would take time and luck, so he might as well gamble on his luck again.

The third attempt hit the 25% chance of no change. Gao Xu lost another 150 points, but his expression didn't waver. He placed it on the platform for a fourth attempt.

Most other Reincarnators would have quit while they were ahead, having already made a tidy profit. After all, there was still a chance of the item being damaged. If that happened, they'd lose everything and waste 600 points for nothing. They'd regret it bitterly.

But Gao Xu knew that everything in the space involved both opportunity and danger. Playing it safe could avoid danger, but it could also mean missing out on opportunities. So as long as circumstances allowed, he'd give it his all!

When the light came on, Gao Xu couldn't help holding his breath. He knew that in the first difficulty tier's functional rooms, the same operation could only be performed four times during a single rest period. Starting with the fifth attempt, the fee would double. At that point, no matter how reluctant he was to give up, he'd have to stop.

A brand-new mask appeared on the platform. Gao Xu took a deep breath, then touched it with a finger, slowly but firmly. When he received the item information, he froze for a moment, then threw back his head and laughed.

His laughter brimmed with joy and pride!

Disguise Mask (Passerby): Blue item, inferior quality, a distinctive item from the world of the Jian Xia Qing Yuan series. A mask used for disguise. When used, it changes your appearance and clothing to those of an inconspicuous passerby, reducing the hostility of enemy plot characters by 10%. Effective against bosses. Maximum duration: 60 minutes. After removing the mask, you must wait at least 2 hours before using it again. Uses remaining: 2020.

The name of this Disguise Mask was a little awkward, but its usefulness was practically immeasurable!

Don't underestimate a 10% reduction in hostility. There's a saying that makes a lot of sense: if a tiger is chasing you, you don't need to run faster than the tiger. You just need to run faster than your companions to escape unscathed.

The same principle applied to dangerous boss fights. You didn't need to reduce your hostility by much. You only needed less than the other Reincarnators. The one most likely to survive might just be you, the one the boss barely noticed, standing on the sidelines!

Unlike the highly specialized Disguise Mask (Bandit), the Disguise Mask (Passerby) was suitable for practically everyone except tank-type Reincarnators. Gao Xu could guarantee that if he showed this mask to Mr. Yi right now and hinted that he was willing to sell it, he could get at least 5,000 points—and that would be a friendly price!

In other words, after only one trip around the trading area and a little over ten minutes in the Crafting Room, Gao Xu had already made back all the points he'd invested in the All-System Simulation Training Ground. The foresight and knowledge he had gained were an endless source of wealth!

Gao Xu believed that the Disguise Mask (Passerby) was only the beginning...